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At Hardee's restaurant on the east side of town, near the tiny two-room house where Elvis Presley was born, five mostly retired Tupelo good old boys sit nursing coffee, talking about gay marriage. "I'm agin it," said Roger Morgan, 78, as the others nodded in assent. "'Cause my Bible says marriage is between a man and a woman. It didn't say anything about Adam and Steve." Such attitudes are common in this bastion of Southern Baptists, but they're increasingly under fire — not only by a national wave of court rulings, but by gay rights activists mobilizing in the conservative American heartland like never before. From its newly opened...

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At Hardee's restaurant on the east side of town, near the tiny two-room house where Elvis Presley was born, five mostly retired Tupelo good old boys sit nursing coffee, talking about gay marriage.
"I'm agin it," said Roger Morgan, 78, as the...

When Indiana approved a law designed to allow residents and business owners to use their religious beliefs as reason to deny services to some people, the conservative state braced for some fallout. But the response was quicker and harder after a...

The former Atlanta fire chief, who was dismissed by the city’s mayor this month after writing a book in which he said homosexuality is “vile,” has filed a federal discrimination complaint against the city in a case that is testing the issue of religious...

The Supreme Court on Monday gave its strongest signal yet that the legal fight for nationwide gay marriage has been won even before the issue is argued in April.
The justices, with only two dissenting votes, turned down Alabama’s plea to delay same-sex...

Arkansas and Mississippi on Tuesday became the latest states to have same-sex marriage bans overturned by federal judges, but there are no rushes to the altar as both orders are on hold so the states can consider appeals.
Like several other states,...

Cardinals and bishops summoned by Pope Francis to the Vatican to discuss the modern family have said that homosexuals should be welcomed into the Roman Catholic Church and that heterosexual civil unions have “positive” aspects.
Without shifting on church...

It was the hardest letter I ever had to write. And it sat in a drawer at my house for nearly a decade.
Dad,
I write this letter because I want you to know fully who I am. There is a big part of me that you and I have never discussed. I'm the same son...

Mississippi's governor signed into law Thursday a measure that allows individuals and organizations to sue the government over laws that they feel thwart their ability to practice religion.
“I am proud to sign the Mississippi Religious Freedom...

Mississippi lawmakers have approved a bill that would allow citizens and businesses to challenge laws they see as substantially in conflict with their religious beliefs.
The bill, in the hands of Gov. Phil Bryant on Wednesday, would put into place a...

For Portland attorney Julie Engbloom, "the biggest stress of the last 48 hours" wasn't waiting for U.S. District Judge Michael McShane to decide whether to overturn Oregon's ban on same-sex marriage.
It wasn't whether she had popped the...

A county judge in Arkansas struck down his state’s constitutional bans on gay marriage, saying in a ruling Friday night that they did not advance “any conceivable legitimate state interest.”
In finding the ban unconstitutional, Pulaski County Circuit...

President Obama has turned down a plea from religious groups that they be exempt from an executive order he plans to sign Monday prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against gay or transgender workers, officials said Friday.
The policy —...

President Obama signed an executive order Monday barring federal contractors from discriminating against gay employees and prohibiting discrimination against federal workers who identify as transgender.
“In too many states and in too many workplaces,...

You could have seen this coming a mile away.
“Counter the leftist hate,” someone named Marji Wojack tweeted earlier this week. “Join me in Hobby Lobby Love Day-Thursday, July 3.”
Those who support Monday’s Supreme Court ruling in Burwell vs. Hobby...

Six national gay rights groups withdrew support Tuesday for what had been hailed as historic legislation to prohibit workplace discrimination, citing concerns over an exemption for employers who object to homosexuality on religious grounds.
Led by the...

In advance of upcoming runway shows in London, Milan and Paris, the Human Rights Campaign -- the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization -- has issued an open letter to members of the fashion...

President Obama plans to sign an executive order forbidding companies that do business with the federal government from discriminating against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, fulfilling a goal that gay rights organizations...

The restart to gay marriage in California happened very quickly Friday afternoon -- coming as a huge surprise to two plaintiffs in the U.S. Supreme Court case, Kris Perry and Sandy Stier of Berkeley.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision to...

Popes are famously believed to be endowed with infallibility, which is often misinterpreted to mean that they can never be wrong. In actuality, they are only considered infallible when it comes to the issuance of Roman Catholic doctrine.
Infallible or...